Key takeaways
- Under the 2026 rules, both teams get an opportunity to possess the ball in overtime in the regular season and the playoffs, even if the first team scores a touchdown.
- A regular-season overtime is one 10-minute period with two timeouts per team, and if it is still tied when the period ends, the game is a tie.
- Playoff overtime uses 15-minute periods with three timeouts per half and continues until there is a winner, however many periods that takes.
- The one exception to the guaranteed possession is a safety: if the kicking team scores one on the receiving team's first possession, it wins immediately.
- College overtime is a different game entirely: no kickoffs, possessions from the 25, mandatory two-point tries from the second period, and single two-point plays from the third.
As of the 2026 season, NFL overtime guarantees both teams a chance to have the ball, in the regular season and in the playoffs. The difference between the two is the clock. A regular-season game gets one 10-minute overtime period and can still end in a tie. A playoff game plays 15-minute periods until somebody wins. Everything else, the coin toss, the guaranteed possession and the safety exception, works the same way in both.
The rules below come from Rule 16 of the 2026 rulebook. Overtime has been rewritten several times since 2010, so a summary written even two seasons ago may describe a format that no longer exists.
The two formats side by side
| Regular season | Playoffs | College (2026 NCAA rules) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| How it starts | Coin toss, then a kickoff | Coin toss, then a kickoff | Coin toss; no kickoff |
| Length | One 10-minute period | 15-minute periods, as many as needed | No time limit: two possession series per period |
| Guaranteed possession | Both teams, except after a first-possession safety | Both teams, except after a first-possession safety | Both teams each period, unless the defense scores |
| Can it end tied? | Yes | No | No |
| Timeouts | Two per team | Three per team per half (two periods) | One per team per period |
| Coaches' challenges | None; replay official only | None; replay official only | College replay rules apply |
Before either NFL format begins, the referee tosses a coin at midfield and the visiting captain calls it, exactly as before kickoff. There is an intermission of no more than three minutes after regulation.
How a regular-season overtime plays out
Think of it as two guaranteed possessions followed by sudden death, all inside 10 minutes.
Step one: both teams get an opportunity to possess. The opening kickoff is the receiving team's opportunity. Once each team has had its chance, the team ahead wins. If the first team does not score, or the score is level after both have had their turn, the next score of any kind wins.
Step two: the clock is the hard limit. The rulebook allows "a maximum of one 10-minute period", even if the second team has not had its opportunity or its first possession has not ended. Tied at the end of that period means the game is a tie.
Three worked examples show how it resolves. In each, Team A receives the opening kickoff.
| What Team A does first | What Team B then needs | Outcome |
|---|---|---|
| Scores a touchdown | Must at least match Team A's total on its own possession | If B goes ahead, B wins; if B ties, the next score wins; if B falls short, A wins |
| Kicks a field goal | A field goal ties it, a touchdown wins it | If B does not score, A wins; if tied after B's possession, the next score wins |
| Punts or turns it over | Any score wins | Sudden death from that moment |
The exception is the safety. If the kicking team scores a safety on the receiving team's first possession, the kicking team wins on the spot, because the rule carves that one case out of the guaranteed possession.
Two details that catch people out
Possession is defined by kicking plays. The rule says the opportunity to possess "applies only during kicking plays", and that if the kicking team legally recovers the kickoff, the receiving team is considered to have had its opportunity. A recovered kickoff counts as the other team's turn.
A defensive score can end it early. If the first team has scored and the second team then throws an interception or loses a fumble, the down is played out and points scored by either side during it count. The league's Record & Fact Book puts the general point simply: the first possession can produce a winner if the defense scores a touchdown or a safety.
Late-period timing works like the end of a fourth quarter, so the clock rules in clock management in the final two minutes apply directly to the last stretch of a 10-minute overtime.
How playoff overtime is different
The possession rules are identical. What changes is that the game cannot end level.
- Each period is 15 minutes, and play continues "regardless of how many 15-minute periods are necessary."
- There is a two-minute break between periods but no halftime after the second.
- Teams change ends after the first and third periods.
- Each team has three timeouts per half, with a half being two overtime periods.
- At the end of the second overtime period, timing works like the end of a first half; at the end of the fourth, like the end of a game.
- The captain who lost the original toss gets first choice at the start of the third period, unless the winner deferred, and if the game is still tied after a fourth period there is another coin toss.
In both formats, every replay review is started by the replay official, coaches cannot challenge, and a player disqualified earlier cannot return.
How the rules got here
| Year | Change |
|---|---|
| 1941 | League bylaws provide sudden-death overtime for tied playoff games |
| 1958 | First sudden-death overtime in an NFL Championship Game |
| 1974 | One sudden-death overtime period added for preseason and regular-season games |
| 2010 | Modified sudden death introduced for the postseason |
| 2012 | Modified sudden death extended to all games |
| 2017 | Regular-season and preseason overtime shortened from 15 to 10 minutes |
| 2021 | Overtime eliminated in preseason games |
| 2022 | Playoffs: both teams guaranteed an opportunity to possess |
| 2025 | Regular season: both teams guaranteed an opportunity to possess, within the 10-minute period |
The 2017 change was made, in NFL.com's account, on player-safety grounds, because of the extra plays a full 15-minute period adds, especially for a team facing a short week. The 2022 playoff change followed an imbalance the league had measured: NFL.com reported that teams winning the overtime coin toss had won 10 of 12 playoff overtime games under the format introduced in 2010. The 2025 change, proposed by Philadelphia, was described as aligning "the postseason and regular season overtime rules", giving both teams a chance to possess "regardless of the outcome of the first possession" while keeping the regular season to a single 10-minute period.
Receive or kick? The trade-off, not the answer
The rules create a genuine choice for the coin-toss winner, and it is worth understanding what each option buys rather than looking for a universal answer.
Receiving first gives you the first chance to score and, if the game is still level after both possessions, the next possession too. In the regular season, a long opening drive also eats into the 10 minutes left for your opponent.
Kicking first gives you information. The second team knows exactly what it needs, a field goal or a touchdown, and can call every down accordingly, including going for it on fourth down when only a touchdown will do.
Which matters more depends on the teams, the weather and the score needed, and the coin-toss record that prompted the 2022 change came from the old format, not this one. What a coach can control is understanding which of those advantages the rules hand to each side. Reading a defense covers the quarterback's side of those downs: what the safeties and cornerbacks are telling you before the snap.
How college overtime differs
College football, under the 2026 NCAA rules, uses a completely different system:
- the toss winner cannot defer and chooses offense or defense, or which end of the field to use;
- each team gets a possession that starts with a snap from the opponent's 25-yard line, with no kickoff and no time limit;
- a possession lasts until the team scores or fails to make a first down;
- from the second extra period, a team that scores a touchdown must try for two points;
- from the third extra period, each possession is a single two-point play from the three-yard line;
- each team gets one timeout per extra period, and unused regulation timeouts do not carry over.
The result is that college overtime cannot end in a tie and does not depend on a coin toss in the same way: both teams always get the same number of possessions in a period, unless the defense scores.
Overtime in a quarterback career sim
Football Career Sim 2026 lists overtime among the situations its drives model, alongside downs, distance, field position, timeouts and clock management. Its league, teams and players are fictional, so treat the real rules above as a guide to what the decisions mean rather than as a description of the game's exact procedure. The guide to playing a quarterback career covers how drive-level decisions shape a season, and the football draft simulator guide covers the roster side.
For more on the sport, start at our American football page; the full list of management and career titles is under sports GM games.
Good to know
Frequently asked questions
Do both teams get the ball in NFL overtime?
Can an NFL game still end in a tie?
How many timeouts does each team get in overtime?
When did the NFL change its overtime rules?
How is college football overtime different from the NFL?
Sources
- 2026 NFL Rulebook, Rule 16: Overtime Procedures (opens in a new tab)NFL Football Operations — accessed
- Official 2026 National Football League Record & Fact Book (PDF): Overtime Procedures and Chronology (opens in a new tab)National Football League — accessed
- Approved 2025 Playing Rules, Bylaws and Resolutions (opens in a new tab)NFL Communications — accessed
- NFL owners approve modified overtime rule ensuring possession for both teams in playoff games (opens in a new tab)NFL.com — accessed
- NFL owners approve shortening overtime to 10 minutes (opens in a new tab)NFL.com — accessed
- 2026 NCAA Football Rules and Interpretations (PDF), Rule 3-1-3: Extra Periods (opens in a new tab)National Collegiate Athletic Association — accessed
League, team and athlete names appear here only to identify the rules, records and history being discussed. Reign Creative LLC's sports games are not affiliated with, endorsed by or licensed by any league, team, players' association or athlete, and all names and marks belong to their owners.
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